JAMMU, Oct 1: A World Bank-appointed expert said he would begin inspecting on Sunday a controversial dam being built by India in occupied Kashmir. Pakistan fears the one-billion-dollar Baglihar project could deprive Punjab of vital irrigation water. It says the plant violates a 45-year-old water-sharing treaty brokered by the World Bank.

The World Bank appointed the Swiss professor as a neutral expert to address differences between India and Pakistan over the dam being built in held Kashmir after the countries could not resolve the issue.

“We’re going to visit the site just to try to understand,” Raymond Lafitte, a civil engineer, told reporters on Saturday in Jammu.

He declined further comment, saying he had a “duty to report to the governments of India and Pakistan first”.—AFP